The laws covered in this portion of the Torah refer to the appointment of judges at all the gates of the cities, with admonitions against judging unfairly, for any reason. Warnings, again, against idolatry, rules for a king, should they choose to ask God to appoint one, rulings about the
How many times do we find ourselves looking back at a situation and thinking, “Why did I get so upset?” I know I do, and then I add to that, “And what was I thinking (or not thinking) when I said/wrote that?” It’s funny how we always blow everything up
Once again, thank you Ask Amy for ideas and inspiration. She was answering a letter from a man who was shocked that a recent friend , who is a Christian, was against homosexuality. Amy answered that his friend is intolerant and Christians are taught to be that way (she didn’t say
With this parashah we leave the First Discourse of Moses, the historical discourse, and come into the Second Discourse of this book, which is the Rehearsal of the Code. Essentially, Moses reviews (as is pretty much what D’varim is- a review of all that has happened since leaving Egypt) the
This morning’s Drash falls somewhere between spiritual maturity and anger management. The other day I was praying and began to wonder why I, a person who knows Messiah, who knows God’s plan, and who knows the wonderful future I have to look forward to basking in the glory and love of
Remember those old movies, the ones from the 40’s and 50’s? The tough kid whose brother is in the hospital, or the troublemaker who finally comes to terms with his own anger when the only girl he ever loved is dying, and they go through this kind of a speech:
Most of D’Varim (Deuteronomy) is a discourse from Moses reminding the children of Israel all that has happened to them over the past forty years, reminding them of God’s commandments and encouraging them to obey God after they have gone into the land and conquered it. This parashah starts with Moses
According to Shakespeare, nothing. He asked that question, and justified the answer by having Juliet tell herself that a rose would still smell as sweet even if it was called something else. That’s all good for Juliet, but we should be a little more careful with the names we use
One of the hardest things for a Jewish person to do, especially one who practices the religion (they say practice makes perfect but after a lifetime of practicing we still don’t get it right), is to accept that Jesus is the Messiah. In fact, you can barely even get anyone
This parashah continues the First Discourse of Moshe, which is the chronology of the travels of the Israelites and starts to go into the Second Discourse, the foundations of the covenant. Moshe gives us in 6:4 – 9 the Shema and V’Ahavta, the watchword of Judaism: “Hear, oh Israel; the